1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to cell phones, pagers, and holsters for retaining such cell phones and pagers, and in particular the present disclosure relates to a holder for holding such cell phones, pagers, and holsters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cell phone and pager holsters are known, such as the example holster 10 shown in FIG. 1, which include a clip 12 for engaging and removably attaching the holster 10 to a belt 14 or the clothing of a user 16, and so permitting the cell phone 18 or pager to be removably positioned substantially adjacent to the body of the user 16. For example, the clip 12 includes a top portion 20, a bottom portion 22, and a hinge 24 therebetween, such that when the user 16 presses a surface 26 of the top portion 20 to move the top portion 20 towards the holster 10, the bottom portion 22 moves away from the holster 10, providing space between the bottom portion 22 and the holster 10 to slide the belt 14 or clothing within the space. The hinge 24 may be a spring-based hinge or a living hinge, to provide a restorative force to move the bottom portion 22 to be substantially adjacent to the holster 10, and so to removably position the holster 10 and clip 12 on the belt 14.
Alternatively, a clip similar to the clip 12 shown in FIG. 1 is attached and/or removably mounted directly onto the cell phone 18 or pager for securing the cell phone 18 or pager in a removable position substantially adjacent to the body of the user 16.
Holders and other devices are known which include a single aperture through which passes the clip 12 of a cell phone, a pager, or a holster holding a cell phone or pager, allowing the clip 12 to engage the belt 14 or clothing of the user 16. However, the weight or other forces, such as frictional forces, associated with the cell phone, pager, or holster, causes wear on and thus weakens the structure of the holder at the point of contact in the aperture between the clip 12 and the holder.
Typically, such holders are composed of fabric to be adaptable to different sizes of cell phone, pager, or holster, and to reduce costs. However, being composed of fabric, such fabric-composed holders are especially prone to the wear and weakening effects of the weight or other forces associated with the cell phone, pager, or holster.
A need exists for a holder, such as a fabric-composed holder, for holding a cell phone, pager, or holster, with the holder configured to distribute the weight or other forces, such as frictional forces, associated with the cell phone, pager, or holster, to counter the wear and weakening effects on the holder at the point of contact in the aperture between the clip 12 and the holder.
In addition, holders for cell phones, pagers, or holsters known in the art include a single aperture with the structurally weaker aspects described herein and/or are composed of rigid material, reducing the adaptability of the holder to diverse sizes of cell phones, pagers, and holsters, as opposed to a fabric-composed holder. In addition, such rigid-material-based holders or additional structures incorporated in known holders to counter the wear and weakening and to provide such rigidity increase the costs of manufacture of the holder.
A need exists for a holder for cell phones, pagers, or holsters which provides such weakness-countering structure while being relatively inexpensive to manufacture, for example, using fabric.
Furthermore, holders for cell phones, pagers, or holsters known in the art are open at one end, typically at a top end 28 as shown in the example holster 10 of FIG. 1, requiring the holder to be substantially vertical at all times; otherwise, the cell phones 18, pagers, or holsters positioned in such open ended holders are prone to slip out of the holder when the user bends over or otherwise changes position with the open end of the holder in a downward angle. When such cell phones, pagers, or holsters slip out, such devices may fall to the ground and be damaged with significant costs to repair or replace.
A need exists for holders for retaining cell phones, pagers, or holsters while allowing the holders and the cell phones, pagers, or holsters to be oriented in any angular direction without the danger of the cell phones, pagers, or holsters slipping out of the holder and being damaged.